Toggle Background Color
Welcome back. Today we're clearing out a fort full of monsters(?).
We join the intrepid Innes as he threatens to kick the ass of a small child.
Works for me!
L'arachel and Dozla show up and
wait
is that
It is!! I finally have a (prepromote) thief! I'm going to momentarily gloss over the fact that he has horrible skill and speed for a Rogue to talk about his skills, because he has 4 and all of them are new.
Armor March: If Dozla is adjacent to an armored unit at the start of a turn, both he and all adjacent armors get +2 Move for the turn.
Locktouch: Allows him to open doors and chests without the need for keys or Lockpicks. Note that this does not give him the ability to steal.
Hex: -15 avoid to adjacent enemies, a better/worse version of Marisa's personal skill. Better in that the drop is more, but worse in that it only works on adjacent enemies.
Bracing Stance: If an enemy starts the fight, Dozla gets +4 Def/Res for that fight.
As nice as these are, though, I really can't overlook that skill and speed. He has an iron sword - which on this run only has 42 hit - and an inexplicable E rank in swords, so his options are limited to that, slim swords, and the Shadowkiller (which has roughly the same accuracy). If I can get him a slim sword, he might be okay, but keeping him and L'arachel alive may take some luck.
Also I have 2 Dancers now. Her stats are pretty much irrelevant, but her personal skill might save her ass if she ends up in a bad position. Lancebreaker gives her +50 hit/avoid if she's fighting an enemy who uses a lance.
No need for any of this, then. My lockpick count from Chapter 9 was inaccurate, I actually had 6 instead of 4. But I'm about to have 0! 
I also give Neimi the Dragonshield because, let's face it, she needs it more than anyone.
Dozla being a Rogue also lets me see what kind of enemies I have to deal with and... wow. I'm pretty sure I fought more intimidating enemies in the prologue. These are the ones in the fort proper, the ones by where Eirika starts have a little more going for them.
Ross gets things started, and gets a nice skill for himself. L'arachel will get this at Level 15 also, if I can be bothered to level her up that far.
Where was I? Oh, right.
Kyle Torches the inside of the fort, to reveal
oh god dammit not another one
I really don't want a stray crit taking L'arachel or Dozla out, so Gilliam makes this guy take a nap.
Which is represented by a different icon than the usual sleep status...
Despite the Mogalls' low stats, Evil Eye is still pretty powerful.
Oh hey, Lancebreaker is already working out pretty great for her.
God, the Shadowkiller is so good even if it has crap accuracy.
Vanessa kills a Mogall to get Defense for the first time in what feels like forever.
L'arachel and Dozla have cleared out their area pretty well, but L'arachel is taking a beating... Normally I'd be upset about NPCs taking a bunch of kills, but if the alternate is them dying, I'll take it.
Some enemies come from behind, but Artur and Lute are here to take care of them.
Or not. 
This skill on the Clerics would be a lot scarier if it worked after any fight, but it requires them to attack, so it's no threat at all.
I feel like generic enemies in this run are either really scary or totally ineffectual, with no in between.
Another S-rank item?! 
That accuracy is... unfortunate, but I think I've just found Joshua's ultimate weapon. It's 2 points of weight higher than vanilla Garm, but also has 1 extra point of damage behind it.
Neimi pokes a Priest to death for a good level.
Seeing Eirika put up numbers like this despite the Iron Blade's high weight is very nice. 
And so is this level!
On the enemy phase, this dick with a Horseslayer shows up from the fog to try and take Tana out. She dodges, thankfully, because one hit from anything puts her at the mercy of whatever else comes out of the fog. Eirika kills him on the next turn for a whole 10 gold.
Tana gives no fucks, though, and just gets ever stronger as monsters try to take her down.
She even manages to land this shot against a Mage with Duelist's Blow. 
Dozla is trying to open the other chest, so I decide to take out the Monk before he wakes up. He'll be fine dealing with the other enemies, and I don't particularly care if he ends up taking out the Arch Mogall.
Gilliam gets a... level... for healing Tana. 
L'arachel decided to move towards the party, so Tana rescues and brings her back so Eirika can talk to her.
L'arachel is cursed with having an excellent Magic growth and only a cap of 10 to show for it. These would be fantastic growths on any other magic user - they're still great here, but she's really hindered by her low caps.
But she has a pretty palette!
Eirika tangles with a Brigand on the enemy phase, and has the good fortune to not get hit with Devil Reversal.
I had Lute, Artur and Ross continue to go around the side, and in doing so Lute inadvertently aggroed the boss 
This is scary. None of the skills are really relevant to this fight, but what is relevant is 22 speed with a Steel Lance. If Lute had equipped her Steel Lance instead of the Javelin, she would have died, no question, and she'd be able to double Joshua so I can't use my go-to boss killer.
SUPER RUN AWAY
Neimi gets out here to deal with the devil, so to speak.
My only hope in dealing with the boss is getting her to somehow stop chasing Artur and Lute, so Tana rushes towards her.
A whole parade of enemies goes for Neimi, and she deals with it pretty well. More skill and speed means more crits, especially with Critical Force.
Said parade of enemies included this Sage with Armored Blow, giving him +10 Defense for starting the battle. If he didn't have that, Neimi would have one-rounded him, and she can on her turn.
The Paladin... doesn't chase them? Well, that makes my life a lot easier.
Neimi finishes off the Sage for even more speed. I'm surprised she missed her Strength growth twice in a row, but oh well.
Some Wyvern Riders went for Joshua and it ended poorly for them, but well for him.
Well, I'm sure this will be nice eventually.
Now come with me, your boss needs you.
Destroy, destroy, destroy indeed. Dozla basically still has the growths of a Berserker, so if nothing else he'll still be able to hold his own while he's out Rogue-ing.
Lute and Artur hit their B support continuing their trek back to rejoin the group.
Another good level for Kyle from patching up Joshua. One more point of Defense and he'll have a net 0 in it after Life and Death.
Well, they can't all be winners.
Vanessa and Moulder also get their support started, too.
Moulder. Magic. Please.
That just leaves the boss. She's just standing there... menacingly!
Having two dancers is fun!
After doing some quick math, I realize Joshua will be just out of doubling range if Lute gives him Rally Speed, so that's how we're doing this.
Beautiful.
With Lute's support, Artur gets a lucky shot in, which leaves...
...Tana to go in for the kill.
Flashy Mode crits on 0% will never not be funny to me.
More defense! More!
Hi, Saleh. Hopefully you're still as competent of a prepromote as you originally were...
Bishop Glen shows up, and hey, enemy Ephraims! I'm surprised I haven't run into any outside of cutscenes yet.
...and Valter is right behind him.
NEXT TIME:
